


Road to Recovery

by Soggykalechip



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Link talks in this one, Mental Health Issues, No One Is Okay, One-Sided Attraction, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, Warnings May Change, and it's concerning, like no seriously someone help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-27 00:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30114657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soggykalechip/pseuds/Soggykalechip
Summary: With a raise of her hand and a beam of holy light, Calamity Ganon was no more. Link and Zelda defeated the Calamity plaguing Hyrule, thus setting the spirits of the Champions free. With the four of them back, everything seems to be well in the recovering nation. However, with the events that took place, it's only a matter of time before someone begins to break down.
Relationships: Implied Link/Mipha, Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda, Saki/Teba (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 34





	1. Champions' Return

**Author's Note:**

> I tried writing a fanfic for Jojo, left it, and now here we are.  
> Jesus christ the brainrot hit SO HARD-
> 
> This is my first _official _piece of writing that I've done in a while, so sorry if it's a bit rough!__
> 
> (Also as a warning, I'm not sure if I can do Daruk and Urbosa justice in these first few chapters, but I'll try my best!)

With a raise of her hand and a beam of holy light, Calamity Ganon was no more. Link stood in front of her, bloodied and exhausted, as Zelda asked him, “Do you truly remember me?”

Link could only nod. How could he not after recovering his memories? Zelda, the princess of Hyrule and the one he was supposed to guard, smiled at him with tears in her eyes. Link could feel the corners of his mouth curl up slightly as his body fell onto the grass.

With Link unconscious and Zelda frantically trying to get him back up, neither of them noticed the four streaks of light going off to the four corners of the world.

\---

Vah Medoh sat above the Rito Village, perched peacefully.

If it weren’t for the ray of brilliant blue light, Teba thought, everything would be okay. Instead, the village was in a frenzy. The rumbling from Vah Medoh’s attack shook the roosts and broke some of their platforms. Several of the roofs, Teba’s included, had collapsed into the roosts. Teba thanked Hylia that Saki and Tulin were spending the day with Harth and Molli.

It had been about a month since Link, the Hylian Champion’s descendant, had come to the village to appease Vah Medoh. Teba sighed as he joined the other Rito warriors in flying up to the Divine Beast, which had gone silent. Teba could only wonder what Link was doing now, but a stone of unease sunk in his stomach as he approached the Divine Beast.

“Hey, wasn’t it glowing before?” Harth called out to him. The raven feathered Rito flew to Teba’s side and the two continued to fly around the Divine Beast. There weren’t any signs of the mechanical bird activating to shoot the two down, which concerned Teba. Whether it was aiming at Hyrule Castle or aiming at the Rito with its cannons, the Divine Beast always seemed to be active and well.

“Do you think something happened to it?” Teba asked, shouting over the wind.

“I’m not too sure,” Harth replied, “but the Champion Descendant seemed to be pretty shaken up after he came back from Medoh now that I think about it.”

“What does that have to do with any of this?” Teba asked. The two were flying dangerously close to where Vah Medoh’s targeting laser had once come from. They flew under the beak as Harth continued.

“Well, you have Champion Revali’s diary, right? Didn’t it say something about how the Champions would be bound to their Divine Beasts even in death?”

Teba paused, recalling the snarky and overconfident words that had been scribbled in the old journal (for the pride of the Rito, the Champion had awful handwriting). Teba remembered reading the last page of the diary, remembering how it made his heart stop in dread.

_The Shiekah told us Champions something interesting today. Apparently, because we control our Divine Beasts, our souls are bound to them. This means that if I were to die before Ganon is defeated, my soul will be stopped from going to the afterlife. Not that it will happen, though. My skills are beyond anyone’s in the village. With my skill and the Divine Beasts, Ganon will easily be defeated!_  
_… although, if I were to die, I hope the others don’t follow. Not that I’m too concerned for them._

That final note before the following pages were blank had made Teba’s heart stop when he first read it. He knew how young the Rito Champion was, and the thought of someone who was barely an adult die made Teba’s stomach turn. Before he could answer Harth, a shrill shriek came from on top of the Divine Beast.

The two Rito warriors didn’t hesitate to fly up to the shriek. When they flew up above Vah Medoh, Teba could see three other Rito warriors surrounding a smaller body that was laying on the tan stone of the Divine Beast’s head.

The body was covered in navy blue feathers that weren’t native to the village. Four intricate braids were falling apart due to the ties and the beads being broken and cracked, and the blue feathers were sticky with blood. However, there was no mistaking the blue scarf that was tied around the Rito’s neck.

“He’s alive, Teba.” One of the Rito warriors informed Teba. The two Rito warriors stared at the broken Rito, too in shock to do anything else. Upon closer inspection, there was a rather large crack running down the Rito’s beak all the way from the base to the mouth. Blood seeped from the wound, leaving a trail in its wake. Teba also saw that one wing was bent at an odd angle. Kneeling, he tried to move it only for the injured Rito to let out a sharp hiss in pain.

“Go tell Saki to get her supplies ready.” Teba commanded one Rito warrior. “Harth and I will wait here to see if he’ll wake up.” Turning to the other two warriors, he added on, “Go down to Elder Kaneli. Tell him Champion Revali is alive.”

\---

Sidon slammed the leather-covered book shut, tears threatening to spill over. He had shut himself into his room with his sister’s diary to look for clues as to what her older sister was like or where she could be.

“There’s no way…” Sidon whispered to himself. He buried his face in his hands as the diary fell to the ground, opening up to the page Sidon had last read.

_The Shiekah say that if I were to die before Ganon is defeated, my spirit will be trapped inside Vah Ruta. It has something to do with my soul being the one to control Ruta, not my physical body. I can only hope a tragedy like that will not come to pass.  
However, the sinking feeling in my stomach tells me something will go wrong. I passed it off as performance anxiety, but soon my chest felt like it was going to cave into my lungs and I started to feel dizzy and out of breath from doing nothing. What will father think! He would be frantic if he knew about my condition. I’ve sent a letter to the princess in hopes of reassuring words. We’re both royalty after all._

_Sidon, if you are reading this while I’m still alive you better not tell father about anything in here! I’ll take away your snacks if you do!_  
_However, if the worst comes and I am no longer part of this world, please know that I care for you dearly. I thought of you and father every day, even if I was away from the Domain. I know you must resent me for leaving you alone all the time, but that’s just how the world works sometimes. I know you will keep our father and the Domain safe from harm._  
_I believe in you._

A familiar feeling of dread crept into Sidon’s chest as he breathed heavily. His chest felt tight and restrictive, as if it could crush his lungs at any moment. He knew that his older sister had not come back from the Divine Beast standing on top of the nearby mountain, where it had set its sights on Hyrule Castle. He and his father had hoped that she was alive and well and that it was her duty to Vah Ruta was keeping her from coming back to the Domain. However, the teary look in Link’s eyes upon his return to the Domain had sullied their hopes.

Sidon recognized the sinking feeling in his stomach and the tightness in his chest when Vah Ruta first started to rain down on the Domain. When he had approached his father about this, he was rightfully concerned. However, the symptoms did not show themselves after that incident, so it was forgotten (the king had joked that his authority scared the anxiety away).

“Prince Sidon?” A muffled voice from the other side of the door interrupted his thoughts. Sidon looked up and got up from his desk. Carefully, he picked up the diary and placed it down on the luminous stone desk, and dried his eyes. He was surprised to see not one, but three Zora soldiers at his door.

“Bazz?” Sidon looked at the three shorter Zora, bewildered. “Rivan? Garrison?”

“The king would like to see you, Prince Sidon.” Garrison’s voice rang through the hallway, leaving no room for discussion. Rivan looked visibly uncomfortable, and Bazz looked ten seconds away from saying something about Sidon’s state.

“Tell him I’ll be there in a bit, I’m a bit preoccupied.” Sidon sighed. Garrison nodded, and she left, Rivan following closely behind. Only Bazz stayed behind with the Zora prince.

“Bazz, I know we’re close friends,” Sidon said, letting out a tired sigh, “but for once in your life can you not comment about what I look like?”

“Sorry, but it looks like you saw something really bad!” Bazz blurted, his usual stoic figure breaking to reveal a hyperactive Zora. “Did something happen?”

Sidon thought for a moment, and responded with, “Yes, you could say that.” He cringed inwardly to himself as his voice cracked slightly. He cleared his throat and told Bazz to take him to the king, asking if something happened while he was at it.

“I’m not too sure,” the black Zora confessed, “but the elders were suddenly frantic and told Garrison, Rivan, and I to get you. Rivan and Garrison seemed to know what happened though.”

The two made their way through the halls, the walls glowing ever so slightly. As they approached what Sidon knew as Mipha’s room, they could hear hushed, worried voices. Garrison and Rivan were standing at the door, unease written on their faces.

“This doesn’t look too good…” Bazz murmured to himself. Sidon, feeling the creeping feeling of unease and unrest in his chest, quietly opened the door to see his father and one of the Royal Family’s doctors standing next to him.

Sidon had never seen his father cry. Sidon hadn’t seen him shed a tear when the Calamity first struck, killing most of their population and rendering his older sister MIA. Sidon hadn’t seen his father cry when Link returned, his older sister failing to follow him.

However, his father was crying now. In his arms rested the small body of a red Zora nearly covered in bandages and stitches. The fins on her arms were tattered and torn beyond belief. The tail fin Sidon had looked at while looking up at the Zora was covered in stitches and bandages. Seeing the eerily serene white face, Sidon rushed forward to his father and the injured Zora.

“Sidon-” King Dorephan started to say, surprised by his son’s sudden appearance. Sidon placed a hand on the injured Zora’s cheek, desperately feeling for any warmth.

“Is she alive?” Sidon whispered, disbelief lingering in his thoughts. He turned his head to the doctor and nearly sobbed, “Please, is she alive?!”

To answer his question, the small Zora stirred, letting out a noise of annoyance as she was brought out of her sleep. Her honey-colored eyes blinked rapidly as Sidon pulled her in a tight hug, openly sobbing with relief. King Dorephan let out a small, light-hearted laugh as he pulled the two Zora into his arms.

“You’re alive!” Sidon sobbed, feeling the smaller Zora hug him back with much difficulty. “Mipha, you’re alive!”

__\---__

Yunobo doesn’t know what he would choose: Launching himself into Death Mountain itself or listen to the news of his ancestor specifically asking for him.

Goron City was in a state of disarray as Vah Rudania went still after firing its final attack at Ganon. The attack had sent a storm of large boulders down to the city, flattening anything it could and destroying the bridges. Fortunately, there weren’t any casualties among the visitors and merchants.

Now, Yunobo was sitting in a cave with a slightly bigger Goron he only ever saw on the cliff’s face. The older Goron, his ancestor, gave him a huge grin and laughed.

“I saw you when the little guy first freed me and Rudania,” his ancestor had said, “but I didn’t think everyone would be so uptight!”

_It’s mostly because I’m surprised you’re here and alive…_ Yunobo thought as his ancestor started to go on about the “little guy” and what Goron City was like 100 years ago.

“W-well, everyone’s pretty surprised you’re in such good shape.” Yunobo stammered. “Shouldn’t you be in worse shape after fighting Ganon, goro?”

His ancestor let out a hearty laugh and slapped Yunobo’s back. He gestured to the side of his chest, where a bandage covered a gruesome injury. At first glance, the wound looked like the fatal blow to the Goron.

“Yunobo, was it?” The injured Goron said, “I’ll let ya in on a little secret. Ganon, or one of his blights, actually threw me off after I got this.”

It didn’t take long for Yunobo to let out a rather loud “Huh?!” when he realized what the Goron meant.

“You were thrown into the volcano, goro?!” Yunobo shouted, only receiving a loud laugh from the Goron. For someone who was injured, he didn’t seem fazed with the situation.

“Believe me, that’s not the craziest thing that happened a hundred years ago.” The Goron said with a large grin. He gestured to the stool next to the rock bed and said, “Why not I tell you some of them? The Great Daruk has a lot more memories packed in these back rocks than the entire city combined!”

Yunobo sat down on the stool, a little too excited as he nearly fell out and activated Daruk’s Protection in reflex. Seeing Daruk’s shocked and confused reaction to seeing his own power, Yunobo knew that he would be sitting on the stool for a long time.

____\---_ _ _ _

Riju sat with Patricia on the sandy ground of the seal’s home. The desert cold nipped at her bare skin, but she disregarded the feeling. As far as she knew, everyone had already gone to sleep because it was horrendously late.

She couldn’t help but think about when she took the Hylian Champion, Link, with her to appease the Divine Beast that had been lurking around the desert. Although she had activated the Thunder Helm, Link’s sand seal was oddly uncooperative, resulting in the hero getting struck by the Divine Beast’s violet lightning.

“You’re going to get sick staying out here.” A voice from in front of her said. Riju looked up to see a tall Gerudo woman standing over her.

Getting up, Riju said, “You truly don’t need to worry about me, you’re injured.” She gestured to the woman’s arm, which was in a sling, and the bandages wrapped snugly around her torso.

“Oh please,” the woman chuckled, “I’ve been through worse.” Riju watched the woman crouch down to pet Patricia. To Riju’s horror, Patricia barked angrily and nudged the foreign hand away.

“Patricia!” Riju scolded before turning to the woman, embarrassment flaring up in her face. “I’m terribly sorry Lady Urbosa, she usually isn’t like this-”

Urbosa let out a laugh, cutting Riju off. When Riju and the Gerudo soldiers recovered her from Vah Naboris, they had ridden on sand seals. The form of transportation was relatively new when Urbosa was last alive, and to say that Patricia sparked her interest was an understatement.

“Sand seals weren’t used for transportation as much as now one hundred years ago,” Urbosa explained. “This one seems particularly special.”

Riju’s eyes lit up as she went on a frenzy of telling her superior about sand seals, the different variations they found, and the new technologies that went into developing the form of transportation in the past one hundred years.

“Oh! Patricia can do this thing where if you give her some fruit… ” Riju said before getting cut off by a yawn. Urbosa smiled and placed her free hand on Riju’s shoulder.

“It’s gotten late, we should go sleep.” Urbosa told the younger Gerudo. She looked over at Patricia and smiled. “You’re friend’s tired too.”

Riju looked behind her, and sure enough, Patricia had fallen asleep, snoring loudly. Yawning again, Riju nodded and followed Urbosa back into the castle.


	2. Return of Revali, the Rito Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revali wakes up and finds himself in the Rito Village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, I was not expecting this to get as much attention as it did.  
> Thank you so much for reading everyone!! I've been working on writing as much as possible (I write during my online classes lmao), so please expect more from this story! On that note, I want to start including more sensitive topics such as elements of PTSD, self-harm, and other topics in future chapters. Because of this, all of the CWs and TWs will be here in the notes of each chapter when they apply.

_Windblight Ganon screeched as it swung its arm at the Rito. Revali laughed as he aimed his bow, targeting the monster’s eye. Before he could let the arrow fly, the blight had reduced itself into a glowing blue ball, floating over elsewhere._

_“Oh no, you don’t!” Revali yelled over the wind. He quickly soared over to the blight, watching it materialize from the blue light. Taking the arrow from before, Revali readied his bow once more. Windblight Ganon swung its malice-filled hand, pointy fingers barely missing Revali, and created a vortex of violent wind that took the Rito Champion with it. Revali screeched as rubble from the stone pillar next to him flew towards him in the vortex. He heard a sickening crunch as the broken pieces of stone crushed his wing, pinning him to the ground. Before the dust unsettled from the vortex could clear, Revali was blinded by a red light as the already rapid beeping quickened. Revali could see the red light coming from the blue eye of Windblight, the red beeping ceasing with a small clicking noise before shooting a blinding ray of light at the Rito._

Revali woke up to see a pair of blue eyes staring over him. With a startled squawk, Revali swung his free wing- when was the other one put in a sling?- in self defense. He sat up in the hammock and was immediately greeted with a sharp pain that seemingly came from every cell of his body.

“Tulin! Don’t bother him!” A stern voice came from the entrance of the roost. A lavender colored Rito walked into the roost, carrying a variety of objects. Tulin, the white fledgling that had been staring Revali down, got up from his fall and apologized quickly before running out of the roost.

“I’m sorry, we never get any visitors aside from Hylians and Gerudo.” The lavender Rito apologized. Revali grunted and attempted to roll out of the hammock, only to be stopped by the Rito.

“You shouldn’t get up!” She exclaimed, “You have some terrible injuries!”

“Where am I?” Revali hissed through his closed beak. He noticed a white cloth wrapped around it, and speaking made his beak throb. 

“You’re in Rito Village,” the lavender Rito explained as she went to work changing the bandages that were wrapped snugly around his torso, “My husband and the other warriors found you on top of Vah Medoh like this.”

Going silent, Revali recalled what had happened on Vah Medoh. He remembered Windblight Ganon clearly enough, and he vaguely remembered giving something to Link (was it his gale?) before setting Medoh’s sights on Hyrule Castle.

The lavender Rito fussed over Revali’s injuries even as the elder stepped into view. He stood at the entrance of the roost, thanking Revali profusely for his actions one hundred years ago. The Rito Champion felt his feathers rise in bashfulness as the large Rito continued to hoot his accomplishments out. Yes, Revali liked being recognized by people for his skill. It was just a problem when-

_Wait, when did this become a problem?_ Revali thought to himself, feeling a pit of unease grow in his stomach. The lavender Rito, sensing his discomfort, was quick to shoo the elder away. The elder was slow to leave, making Revali worried for him due to the lavender Rito looking as if she was ten seconds away from pecking him away with her short beak. 

_Even after one hundred years,_ Revali thought with a shudder, _the temperament of the healers didn’t change one bit._ The lavender Rito came back to the roost and apologized continuously to the Rito Champion. 

“He just gets carried away every once in a while.” The Rito explained as she poked Revali’s broken wing. “Everyone in this village looks up to you. You are the Rito Champion after all.” 

Revali murmured a small “thanks” and lapsed into silence as the Rito healer examined his injuries. She rambled on about the Rito Village and what he had missed. Revali learned that the lavender Rito’s name was Saki, and the little fledgling named Tulin was her son. Tulin’s father was the warrior who found Revali on the Divine Beast (Revali made a mental note to talk to him in the near future). 

“There was a Hylian who came by the village a month ago,” Saki said, catching Revali’s attention. “He helped my husband appease Medoh.”

Revali did recall at least two people approaching Medoh during his time being trapped in the machine. The first time a pair had approached the Divine Beast, Medoh had shot one of them down, sending both of them flailing back down to the ground. The second time, Revali could tell that one was flying significantly slower than the other. 

“The Hylian said his name was Link.” Saki continued. She looked at Revali with a slight tilt of her head. “He claimed that he was the Hylian Champion, do you know him by any chance?”

Oh, did he know who Link was. The short, stoic knight with the Sword that Seals the Darkness strapped onto his back always irked Revali off. The Hylian always failed to show any sort of emotion, not even widening his eyes slightly upon seeing his skill. Revali remembered the initial shock of hearing Link talk for the first time after he had defeated Vah Medoh. 

“Of course I do.” Revali answered, rolling his eyes. Saki laughed as she reached for a small container of potion and another container of cotton swabs. “Well, he did seem distraught after coming down from Vah Medoh.” She said, rummaging through her stash of medical supplies. She clicked her beak when she found a small vial of fairy tonic hidden under everything. Revali eyed it warily before Saki explained that Link gave it to her as a gift. 

“This should be enough to fix your beak.” Saki concluded as she finished pouring half of the vial into a cup. Before giving the wooden cup to Revali, she poured water to fill the cup and added some sugar, stirring it gently.

“Fairy tonic’s bitter, so Link told me to use it like this.” Saki explained. She handed the cup to Revali, who drank it in one go. The potion worked its magic, for the crack in his beak became nothing but a dull throb. _It really does do wonders…_ Revali thought as his mind wandered to a lingering memory.

_Revali sat in the snow next to the unawakened shrine. Snow drifted down gently in clumps, landing delicately on his feathers. In the distance, he could see a figure on a horse approaching him. To his disgust, the Hylian knight looked at him from his horse, his stoic gaze piercing Revali._

_“If you don’t have anything better to do other than to stare me down,” Revali said as he got up, green eyes glaring at calm blue ones, “then why not we go to the Flight Range where I can show you who should be staring down who?”_

_Without a word, Link got off his horse and walked to a clump of soft snow that had been next to Revali. The Rito was about to shoot an arrogant remark at the Hylian when he saw him crouching down before the snow, uncovering something gently._

_Almost immediately, a pale pink ball of light flew out whimsically, its emerald wings fluttering in the snow. It swirled around Link’s head several times before taking off, leaving a trail of pink sparkles in its wake._

_Revali, overcome by shock at the sight of the mystical creature, glanced at Link as the Hylian got up. His cerulean eyes were shining with something Revali had never seen in the stoic front he was used to, and a small smile graced the Hylian’s reddening cheeks. Something in Revali’s heart had been tugged towards Link, but Revali shut it down quickly, instead scolding the Hylian about getting clothes better suited for the eternal Hebra winter._

\---

Revali figured that he had fallen asleep at some point because when he cracked his eyes open, sunlight was no longer shining through the roost. The pale glow of the moon illuminated the roost as Revali’s eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness. He could see that Tulin was asleep in his own tiny hammock, and Saki was sleeping with a white Rito in her hammock. 

_Must be her husband._ Revali thought to himself. He quietly crept out of his low-hanging hammock and wandered out of the roost, allowing himself to explore the village. It was smaller than he remembered, with a large landing being its centerpiece. Revali had felt pride in knowing that he was still remembered by the village, he was worried that no one would remember him despite his accomplishments. Revali awkwardly walked down the stairs of the platforms, his broken arm only hindering his movements. He was able to find the shops, and he even spotted a roost with five slumbering fledglings (he felt pity for their mother) before getting to the last few set of stairs.

When Revali saw the entrance of the village come into view, he could see another person there already. They were standing at the Goddess Statue, hands clasped together in prayer. They were dressed in Rito-styled clothes and a headdress adorned their golden hair. Getting closer, Revali could see the familiar purple sheath of the Sword that Seals the Darkness. Revali couldn’t help but widen his eyes in recognition as the Hylian turned to him, a small smile on their reddening cheeks. 

Link turned to look at the Rito Champion with emotional eyes and whispered, “Hello Revali, it’s good to see you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I a simp for revalink? Absolutely yes.  
> Thank you for reading! I tend to rewrite chapters a lot until I'm satisfied, so getting positive feedback means a lot to me! Please feel free to leave a comment telling me how I did, and feel free to leave kudos as well!  
> With school getting more and more demanding as the end of the year comes closer, I might not be able to write as much. Sorry if updates stop suddenly or slow down!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave kudos and a comment telling me how I did! I'll try to put out as many chapters as I can!


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